By DAN CROWLEY

     Ask Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox pitcher Bobby Gagg any question and you get a straight answer. Gagg shoots from the hip, one of the reasons he feels he wasn’t drafted out of high school in 2005.

    “I was talked to by some people coming out of high school, but I kind of turned people off,” Gagg said. “I was honest. I just told everybody I was going to college and that was that. I’m not a first round guy and out of high school you need life changing money. I needed college to get where I am.”

    At Wallkill High School in Hamburg, New Jersey, Gagg finished 12-1 with an 0.84 ERA and led his team to a state championship. In his freshman season at Coastal Carolina he made 17 appearances, got six starts, pitched two complete games, and ended the year at 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA. This spring Gagg hit his stride with the Chanticleers finishing at 12-2 in 17starts. He posted an ERA of 2.57 and in 112 innings of work struck out 84 and walked 27.

    He was named Big South Pitcher of the Year for the conference champion Chanticleers and chosen for the Big South All Tournament Team. He was named to the All-Myrtle Beach Regional Team and is a second team Collegiate Baseball All American. In addition Gagg received second team All Atlantic Region honors by the American Baseball Coaches Association and was recently name to the All Ping Team. On June 24 he was named the Cape Cod Baseball League Coca-Cola Pitcher of the Week.

    Next June Gagg hopes Major League Baseball will come knocking again and this time he’ll be ready.

    Coastal Carolina seemed the perfect fit for Gagg coming out of Wallkill High School.
“A scout from the (Boston) Red Sox told me not to pick a school based on baseball, but on where I would be happy,” he recalled. “Baseball is a huge part of that choice, but you don’t want to go somewhere where you’ll be miserable. I’m in Myrtle Beach and that has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.”

    Gagg admits that when he arrived at Coastal Carolina he had a chip on his shoulder, but quickly found out that as a freshman, he had a lot to learn.

    “I love the coaching staff and the school,” he said. “It’s a small school where everybody knows everybody and that’s the best part. We’re a close knit group. The friends you make and the experiences you have are some of the most gratifying things in life. We’ll all stay in touch for the rest of our lives.”

    Throughout his baseball career and life in general Bobby’s father, Robert Gagg has been at his son’s side. A one-time minor league prospect in the New York Yankees organization, the elder Gagg had his career cut short after two professional seasons by an arm injury.

    “My dad was a pitcher and a middle infielder in the Yankees’ farm system,” Bobby noted. “He’d play shortstop or third base all week and a couple of times he’d pitch. Then a couple of guys went down and he got a couple of starts.”

    Bobby claims to be a better pitcher than his father, but admits that his dad was a better athlete.

    “I’m a pitcher,” he smiled. “I’m just trying to make the most of what God gave me. My dad taught me how to be a smart pitcher. He taught me the things it takes to be successful on the mound. When I’d win a game he’d say ‘good job,’ but on the days I’d lose, that’s when the teaching would happen.”

    Gagg doesn’t blow away hitters with an overpowering fastball, but he knows how to pitch. He relies on his change-up and is adding a breaking ball to his pitching repertoire.

    “I wouldn’t be where I am today without my change-up,” Gagg admits. “I was never a breaking ball pitcher, although I’m just starting to get a good breaking ball now. My freshman year of college I didn’t throw a breaking ball, it was just the fastball and change-up. The change-up to me is the best pitch in baseball. You can throw it to any hitter. It looks just like a fastball and you can get a lot of ground balls. I’m not a strikeout pitcher and when you can get a lot of ground balls it keeps the pitch count down and makes life a lot easier.”

    With a fastball that runs between 88-91 miles per hour, a cut fastball, change-up and curve in his arsenal, Gagg is giving Cape League hitters fits. In seven appearances this summer over 30.2 innings of work, he has three wins and a save without a loss and an ERA of 2.64. What he does best is put the ball over a part of the plate in which it is most difficult to hit with any success.

    “I’ve always prided myself on being a control pitcher that keeps hitters guessing,” he said. “The way I pitch, I don’t go for strikeouts and my pitch count is lower, which is a reason why I’ll give up a few more hits that everybody else. If you can put the ball where you want every time you go out there, you’re going to win.”

    Gagg is always working on improving himself both in his pitching and the way he manages a game mentally. On the inside of his cap he has written the names of his grandparents, his mother and father and his sister. Whenever the going gets rough on the mound he pulls off his hat and reads their names and it gives him the strength to continue.
“I have always put their names on the inside of my hats,” he added. “When I’m in a tough situation I just look into my hat and it reminds me of what is really important. It humbles me to realize how many people in this world won’t have the opportunities that I have been given. I appreciate every opportunity that I have had.”

    Coming off a successful spring Gagg hit the Cape with confidence. Opening day he was called on by Y-D skipper Scott Pickler to make an appearance in relief, something he hadn’t done in over a year. In four innings, Gagg faced a dozen Hyannis Mets batters without allowing a hit earning the first save of his college baseball career.

    “In college you can’t do what you did in high school; blow the ball by everybody,” Gagg said. “Sometimes during the season there will be a weak hitter in the line up where you know you can blow the ball right down the middle and beat the guy. But here on the Cape every pitch is a pressure pitch. These guys here are the best hitters in the county and in order to get them out you have to make your best pitch every time. When you don’t, you get hurt.”

    At six feet and 195 pounds Gagg isn’t the biggest guy on the mound, but he is a bulldog and when he sinks his teeth into a batter the guy at the plate is in for a fight.

    “People say I’m a workhorse,” he explained. “What I am is a competitor. Even if you don’t have your best stuff, you have to feel like you’re the guy that can put your team in the best position to win. When I’m out there, I don’t want to come out of the game. I love the competition and the pressure and I like to win.”

    Like most Cape League players Gagg hopes for a chance to prove himself at the major league level.

    “I want to play baseball for as long as I can,” he smiled. “When the day comes that I can’t pitch, I’d like to get into coaching. I feel that I have an obligation to the game. There are a lot of people that have helped to make me a better player and I’d like to have the chance to pass on what I’ve learned to younger players someday. I think that would be awesome.”